Imatinib

Imatinib is an oral cancer medicine that blocks several tyrosine kinase enzymes, including the abnormal BCR-ABL protein produced by the Philadelphia chromosome. By locking this enzyme in an inactive shape, it slows the growth of cancer cells and can trigger their death. It treats chronic myelogenous leukemia, Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphocytic leukemia, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and several rarer blood and skin cancers. Scientists at Ciba-Geigy, later Novartis, developed the compound in the early 1990s under the direction of Nicholas Lydon, and oncologist Brian Druker of Oregon Health and Science University led its clinical testing. The United States Food and Drug Administration approved it in May 2001, only about two and a half years after the new drug application was filed, an unusually fast review credited to its striking early trial results.